Commodity Trading News

Recent hostilities in the Red Sea have thrown global shippers of vital goods for a loop - but it is hardly the only issue that big carriers are facing as 2024 kicks off.Giants like Maersk say the industry, which handles 90% of global trade, faces the possibility of significant disruptions, from ongoing wars to droughts affecting key routes like the Panama Canal. Complex vessel schedules are likely to be knocked out of sync for giant container ships, fuel tankers and other commodity haulers throughout the year.That will increase delays and raise costs for retailers like Walmart…

San Francisco-based hydrogen technology company Zero Emission Industries (ZEI) announced it has raised $8.75 million through the completion of a Series A financing round led by Chevron New Energies, with participation from commodity trading company Trafigura and shipping and logistics company Crowley.ZEI, formerly known as Golden Gate Zero Emission, is best known as the technology team behind the Sea Change ferry, the world’s first commercial hydrogen fuel cell vessel launched…

Himalaya Shipping announced it has taken delivery of the sixth in a series of 12 newbuild 210,000 dwt Newcastlemax dual fuel bulk carriers the company has on order from New Times Shipyard.The vessel, Mount Neblina, will commence a minimum 24-month time charter with an evergreen structure thereafter and will earn an index-linked rate, reflecting a significant premium to a standard Capesize vessel, Himalaya Shipping said. The time charter also includes a profit sharing of any economic benefit derived from operating the vessel's scrubber or running on liquefied natural gas (LNG)…

Dry bulk shipping company Himalaya Shipping announced it has taken delivery of the fifth in a series of 12 dual-fuel 210,000 dwt Newcastlemax bulk carriers being built by New Times Shipyard.The vessel, Mount Matterhorn, will commence a 32- to 38-month time charter plus an option for 11 to 13 months and will earn an index-linked rate, reflecting a significant premium to a standard Capesize vessel, Himalaya said. The time charter also includes a profit sharing of any economic benefit derived from operating the vessel's scrubber or running on liquefied natural gas (LNG)…

Finland’s new Inkoo floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) terminal on Sunday accepted its first cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG).The cargo, which was ordered by Elenger, the largest privately owned energy company in the Finnish-Baltic region, was delivered by multinational energy and commodity trading company Vitol.The cargo, which originates from Vitol’s Venture Global Calcasieu Pass facility in the U.S., was transported aboard Vitol's LNG carrier Vivit Americas LNG.

U.S. energy regulators on Friday extended until September 2023 the amount of time liquefied natural gas (LNG) developer Delfin LNG has to put the onshore part of its proposed Gulf of Mexico floating export project off Louisiana into service. The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said in its order that Delfin sought the extension in July. Delfin is one of several North American LNG export developers that delayed construction in recent years in part because coronavirus…

Australia's Macquarie group is investing in Brazilian ports by taking a stake in port operator CLI and funding a deal to buy sugar and grain terminals in Latin America's largest port, Santos, for $260 million, the companies said on Friday.Railway operator Rumo said in a securities filing late it has sold 80% of its subsidiary EPSA, which manages terminals 16 and 19 in Santos, to CLI for 1.4 billion reais ($260 million). Rumo will remain a minority shareholder.CLI, formally Corredor Logistica e Infraestrutura, belonged to the Brazilian private equity fund IG4.

A Singapore trade data sharing platform backed by banks, commodity houses and state firms has signed up 70 participants as part of the city-state's attempts to bolster confidence after a spate of commodity trade finance frauds in recent years.The Singapore Trade Data Exchange (SGTraDex), whose founders include banks DBS and Standard Chartered, commodity trader Trafigura and the local tech regulator, Infocomm Media Development Authority, was launched on Wednesday after plans were announced last year."We're trying to replicate what's happening in the physical world…

Waterway traffic is coming back. November 2021 saw 52.1 million tons moving on the U.S. inland waterway system, the highest monthly tonnage since October 2019, a few months before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the shutdowns and stoppages of early 2020. Flows estimated by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, based on data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) show a 25% rise from June 2020. Data in a presentation by The Waterways Council Inc (WCI)…

SFL Corporation Ltd. on Monday announced it has agreed to acquire four Aframax LR2 product tankers from tanker shipping company Frontline for an aggregate purchase price of $160 million in combination with long term time charters to a subsidiary of commodity trading and logistics company Trafigura.The vessels are built in 2014 and 2015 and have modern eco-design features including exhaust gas cleaning systems, SFL said. The vessels are expected to be delivered to their new owner between December 2021 and February 2022.Hemen Holdings Ltd., who owns approximately 20% of the SFL’s issued and outstanding shares, is also a major shareholder in the seller Frontline.The charter period of the vessels will be for minimum five years with extension options thereafter…

Shipowner SFL Corporation has agreed to buy three Suezmax tankers in combination with long-term time charters with what SFL said was "a world-leading commodity trading and logistics company." "The vessels are built in 2019 and have the latest eco-design features, including exhaust gas cleaning systems. The company expects to take delivery of the vessels in the fourth quarter," SFL, formerly known as Ship Finance International, said. It did not say how much it would pay for the…

Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. has taken delivery of the M/V Friendship bulk carrier.The vessel is a 176,952 dwt Capesize bulk carrier, built in 2009 by Namura Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. in Japan. "The M/V Friendship is the fifth Capesize delivery that Seanergy has successfully completed in 2021 to date," the company said.Seanergy also said that the has been fixed on a time charter with Japan's NYK Line, which is an existing charterer of Seanergy. The charter is expected to commence immediately…

Australian oil and gas firm Woodside and its Pluto LNG joint venture partners have delivered their first cargo of carbon offset condensate to commodity trading company Trafigura.The cargo was loaded at Pluto LNG plant in Western Australia, which processes gas from the offshore Pluto and Xena gas fields.The carbon dioxide equivalent emissions associated with extraction, storage and shipping of the 650,000- barrel cargo will be offset through a combination of efficiency measures, which reduce emissions, and surrender of high-quality carbon offsets, Woodside said.

Trading house Mercuria and Singapore-based asset manager Envysion Wealth Management have agreed to co-invest in mining and energy projects, as default-hit banks tighten their purse strings and leave commodities firms seeking other funding.The deal, signed on Wednesday, will see Mercuria present potential projects for investment to Envysion, founded and led by former Julius Baer banker Veronica Shim. Envysion will then decide whether to participate via a fund with a start-up amount…

In May 2020, the US Department of State, US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and US Coast Guard issued a joint Sanctions Advisory for the Maritime Industry. The advisory builds on and expands several prior sanctions advisories for the maritime community issued in 2018-19.The advisory is intended as a guidepost to help participants in the maritime sector achieve the desired level of compliance. Most of the guidance is couched in the language of suggestion (e.g., parties “may wish to consider…”), rather than as a mandate.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), home the world's top marine refueling hub, said it has awarded two new bunker supplier licenses to Mercuria's Minerva Bunkering and Trafigura's TFG Marine."MPA and ESG welcome the entry of Minerva Bunkering and TFG Marine, which will consolidate Singapore's position as the global bunkering and oil trading hub," the MPA said in a joint statement with Enterprise Singapore (ESG).The licences are the first to be issued by the port regulator since 2017, bringing the total number of licensed bunker suppliers to 45 in Singapore, and come after the M

China will beef up its Caofeidian pilot free trade zone, prioritizing the development of international commodities trade and bringing in more foreign investments, local government said on Monday.The Caofeidian district, on the edge of China's top steelmaking city of Tangshan, aims to achieve trade volume of more than 50 billion yuan ($7.07 billion) and introduce 100 foreign projects by 2022, it said in a statement on its website.The district also plans to make a commodities trading center in northeast Asia in early 2025 and to make China's northwestern provinces and Mongolia a key shipping hub

Commodity trading company Vitol and the Mozambican state-owned oil and gas company ENH have formed ENH Energy Trading, a partnership focused on trading oil products.The Dutch energy and commodity trading company said in a press note that ENH Energy Trading will initially be owned 51% by ENH and 49% by Vitol. It is anticipated ENH’s share will increase over time.ENH Energy Trading will focus on energy commodities, in particular LNG, LPG and condensate, enabling ENH to create additional value and develop expertise in trading energy commodities.Mozambique has an estimated 125 TCF of technically recoverable gas resources. In addition to using these resources to fuel domestic energy demand…

Iran will free seven crew members of the detained British-flagged tanker Stena Impero, Iranian state television reported on Wednesday, although the vessel's owner said it had yet to receive any official confirmation of the release date.The Swedish-owned Stena Impero was detained by Iran's Revolutionary Guards on July 19 in the Strait of Hormuz waterway for alleged marine violations, two weeks after Britain detained an Iranian tanker off the territory of Gibraltar. That vessel was released in August.Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi told the TV that the seven, who include Indian citizens, were allowed to leave the tanker on humanitarian grounds and could leave Iran soon."We have no problem with the crew and the captain and the issue is violations that the vessel committed…

Japan will not join a U.S.-led security mission to protect merchant vessels passing through key Middle Eastern waterways, but will consider deploying its naval force independently, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Tuesday.Though the United States is Japan's most important ally, Tokyo has fostered economic ties with Iran, and Japanese firms had been major buyers of Iranian oil until U.S. sanctions forced them to find other suppliers.Citing unidentified government sources, the…

The world's largest oil tanker shipping company Frontline Ltd has declined options to buy four more tankers from Trafigura Marine Logistics (TML) and said that it will keep to buying only 10 tankers.Last month, the Bermuda based company announced an agreement with TML  to acquire ten Suezmax tankers, with two separate options to acquire two plus two additional Suezmax tankers.The options were part of a deal reached between the two companies last month to acquire ten Suezmax tankers built in 2019 through the acquisition of a TML special purpose vehicle which holds the vessels.Frontline has elected not to exercise the first option to acquire two additional Suezmax tankers.

Australia will join the United States in a security mission to protect merchant vessels travelling through key Middle East waterways after Iran seized a British-flagged vessel, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday.Foremost among the areas to be patrolled is the Strait of Hormuz, between Oman and Iran, through which about one-fifth of the world's seaborne crude flows out of the Gulf.Global commodity trading has been rocked in recent months by the seizure of the British tanker and a series of attacks on international merchant vessels that the U.S. and Britain have blamed on Iran, though it denies involvement. Britain this month became the first U.S.

Frontline, the world's largest oil tanker shipping company, and Trafigura Maritime Logistics (TML) have agreed to extend an option for Frontline to acquire two Chinese-built suezmax tankers.The first option to acquire two Suezmax tankers expires on 12 September 2019. Frontline and TML have agreed to extend the expiry date for the first option to 18 September 2019. TML is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Trafigura Pte Ltd, the multinational commodity trading company.The options are part of a deal reached between the two companies last month to acquire ten Suezmax tankers built in 2019 through the acquisition of a TML special purpose vehicle which holds the vessels.As part of the Acquisition…